We are still on a shapes learning mission with my toddler. Well, that’s how it started: a simple shapes Christmas Tree. With my preschooler around this morphed into a math activity. She quipped ” Hey mom, that shape is too big for the tree, try a smaller one”! Here we are combining shapes and proportions all in one fun Christmas themed math activity. We have done a couple of shapes learning activities before :Check out geometric turkey here and contact paper shape play here. Contact paper is so versatile that we have used it in so many learning and art activties

This activity is good for preschoolers and above. You can simplify it and make it work for a toddler as well.

Materials {affiliate links for your reference]

• Construction Paper
• White Art paper roll
• Circle punch/ scissors
• White Glue

Let me start off by saying that I ended up hand cutting the circles but a couple of circle punches  {link above} in different sizes would have been so helpful. These punches would come in handy for multiple kids crafts.

Then cut 3 triangles in increasing sizes for the leaves.

Cut 3 rectangles in increasing sizes proportionate to the triangles for the tree trunks.

4 basic shapes cut in 3 different sizes proportionate to the leaves and trunk. These will serve as the “shape ornaments”.

When I mention shape ornaments or ornaments in the post, I mean these little guys pictured below. You can see 4 basic shapes {circles, squares, triangles and stars} cut out in 3 different sizes.

I set out the leaves, the trunks and the ornaments separately and set up the Christmas Tree Puzzle challenge.

First step is to create the trees using the triangles and rectangles while talking about biggest, medium and small sizes.

When it was time to decorate with shape ornaments, I had 2 methods in mind.

1. Have the kid sort the shape ornaments into the 3 different sized boxes pictured below { big, medium and small}. Then proceed towards gluing them onto the proportionate tree.

2. Alternatively, you could have all the shape ornaments in a big basket and have the kid sort each time she/he chooses a shape ornament. This makes the decision-making a teeny bit more challenging.

We did both. We sorted first the shape ornaments into the 3 boxes to help her see the varying sizes of each ornament. Then we put all the ornaments back together into a big pile and started the process of matching the ornament to the tree size.

Triangles and rectangles are simple to do.. When she got to the smaller ornaments, she realized that she has to pay more attention

Here are our sorted shapes.

Put the ornaments back in a pile to start sorting “on-the-go”

As you can see, this Christmas activity is easy to adapt to a toddler. I would just make a bigger Christmas tree with triangle, rectangle,star and just a couple of smaller basic shapes as ornaments. While gluing, the parent can call out the shape aloud. This is what I did with my toddler.

More Christmas Crafts on Kids Play Box

Happy Holidays!

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